CHAPTER 51: THINGS THAT GROW WITHOUT YOU

Location: Sector 5 – Public Innovation Fair

Time: 10:45 AM

The open plaza buzzed with life. Booths lined the walkways—handmade machines, AI poetry generators, sustainable food tech, and memory gardens.

Kaen wandered without a schedule, hands tucked in his coat pockets, watching.

Two teenagers were arguing by a drone station.

"It’s not copying old world tech. We’re adapting it."

"You’re ignoring the ethics board standards!"

Kaen paused nearby.

The boy noticed him and asked with the earnestness of someone who didn’t know who he was:

"Mister, what would you do?"

Kaen raised an eyebrow.

"Are you asking because you want the right answer... or because you don’t want to be the one blamed?"

The girl grinned.

The boy frowned.

"Thought so," Kaen added, smiling. "Try again."

He moved on, leaving them in thought.

He didn’t need to tell them what to build.

He just had to make sure they questioned why they were building it.

---

Location: Community Message Board – East Plaza

Time: 11:22 AM

Kaen stood at the public message wall—a digital board filled with free postings: job notices, wedding invites, art requests, anonymous confessions.

In the corner, a faded piece of paper caught his eye:

"If you were stuck in time for 100,000 days...

Would you become better?

Or just bitter?"

It wasn’t signed.

Kaen pulled a marker from the tray and wrote beneath it:

"Tried both. Better feels lighter."

No one watched him write it.

That felt right.

---

Location: Nila’s Rooftop Garden – Sector 2

Time: 1:08 PM

Kaen helped Nila water the saplings.

Many were new strains developed since the loop ended—flourishing not because of control, but because of trust. Open collaboration.

Nila pointed to a small vine wrapped around an iron rod.

"That one wasn’t even supposed to survive."

Kaen tilted his head.

"Why did it?"

"It adapted to something harsher. Grew stronger."

She smirked.

"Reminds me of someone."

Kaen shook his head.

"Nah. I had the chance to restart every day. These things? They only get one shot."

They stood in silence.

Then Kaen whispered,

"Maybe that’s why they mean more."

---

Location: Lower Sector 11 – Memorial Bench Near the Clocktower

Time: 3:47 PM

Kaen sat at a bench carved from loop-era stone, polished by time.

A small engraving read:

"To those who gave time... even when it gave them nothing back."

Beside him, a man Kaen didn’t recognize sat down.

"Did you lose someone in the loops?" he asked casually.

Kaen considered it.

"Not someone. Many... including versions of myself."

The man didn’t flinch.

"We all lost pieces. The trick is figuring out which ones not to replace."

Kaen smiled.

"I think you just summarized my entire past decade."

Location: Sector 8 – Archives of the Loop Era

Time: 5:12 PM

Kaen walked into a newly constructed wing of the city archives. This one wasn’t about data.

It was about stories.

Drawings. Personal journals. Poems. Voices.

None from him—

All about what life felt like when the days refused to move forward.

A display screen flickered on with a child’s voice:

"I used to think tomorrow was fake. Like a trick adults played. Then one day... the sun rose differently."

Kaen stood silently, surrounded by stories he had never read, told by people he had never met.

They healed in their own ways.

On a nearby wall was a painting:

Kaen’s silhouette standing beneath a broken clock tower—but his face was left blank.

Below it read:

"We never really knew him.

But he knew what time cost."

Kaen stared at it longer than he meant to.

Then nodded.

"Good. That’s enough."

---

Location: Bloom Market – Outer Rim

Time: 6:03 PM

The market overflowed with life—an elderly couple selling music chips, kids juggling glass marbles that lit up, a group singing protest ballads that had become lullabies.

Kaen paused at a stall labeled:

"Grown in Soil That Survived the Reset."

A girl behind the counter offered him a plum.

"First one’s free. Founder’s rule."

Kaen raised an eyebrow.

"Founder?"

"Yeah, some guy who said everything tastes better when it’s earned. Don’t know his name. Just the quote."

Kaen bit into the plum. Sweet. Tangy.

"He was right," he said.

She laughed.

"Whoever he was."

---

Location: Forum Tower Rooftop – Bloom Tree

Time: 8:49 PM

Kaen returned to the rooftop just before nightfall. The Bloom’s petals were slow-dancing with the breeze.

He sat beside the tree, placing a small note in the soil:

"To the world that kept growing, even when I stopped."

Footsteps approached.

Ezra appeared, holding two mugs of tea.

"They gave me a scholarship," he said.

Kaen looked up.

"For what?"

"Historical ethics. To help teach what not to repeat."

Kaen sipped his tea.

"Just make sure they also teach what was worth keeping."

Ezra nodded.

"You ever think they’ll forget you completely?"

Kaen smiled.

"God, I hope so."

Location: Sector 12 – Decommissioned Eye Control Room

Time: 10:05 PM

The old command center was dark now. Silent. Long emptied of its surveillance teams, its pulse monitors, its control agents.

Kaen walked through the hollow skeleton of what used to be the most feared room in the city.

The screens were cracked. The chairs rusted.

But the memories... still vivid.

"Here’s where I threatened a traitor into compliance."

"There’s where I rigged a vote to avoid a civil war."

"That screen—I used it to track every potential rebel by breath rhythm."

He sat in the center chair—the one that once gave him godlike vision.

He stared at the blank screens.

Then laughed. Softly. Bitterly.

And got up.

Before leaving, he carved a simple line into the dusty console:

"Power that forgets people isn’t worth remembering."

---

Location: Sector 1 – Children’s Debate Hall

Time: 10:57 PM

A late-night youth debate was in full swing.

Topic: "Should one person ever have the right to decide for many?"

Kaen stood at the back, unnoticed.

A girl raised her hand.

"I think... sometimes, yes. If they’re wiser. Or if they’ve already suffered through it."

Another shook his head.

"But even if they’ve suffered... how can we know their pain didn’t warp their judgment?"

Kaen didn’t interfere.

Didn’t raise a counterpoint.

Didn’t reveal he’d once decided for all of them—thousands of times.

He just listened.

They were wrestling with things he once monopolized.

And that was beautiful.

---

Location: Forum Tower Rooftop – Bloom Tree

Time: 11:51 PM

Back beneath the Bloom, Kaen sat with his back against the trunk.

A soft wind picked up.

Nightbirds stirred.

The city’s hum was quieter here.

Ezra returned—this time with a datapad glowing in the dark.

"Want to see the final draft?"

Kaen nodded.

The title of Ezra’s essay read:

"The Ghost Who Gave Us Time"

Kaen winced slightly.

"That’s a bit dramatic."

Ezra shrugged.

"Could’ve gone with Clockfather."

Kaen burst into quiet laughter.

Then fell silent.

"I’m not a ghost anymore," he said finally.

"I’m just someone who remembers... what it took to let go."

Ezra didn’t argue.

They sat side by side as the Bloom Tree shimmered gently above them.

Location: Forum Tower Rooftop – Bloom Tree

Time: 12:00 AM

The chime of midnight was barely audible, muffled by the wind, the rustling petals, and the quiet hum of a city at peace with itself.

Kaen didn’t flinch.

No reset.

No time loop.

Just... now.

He leaned his head back against the tree trunk and exhaled—deep and slow, as if letting go of air he’d held for a century.

Ezra broke the silence:

"You ever think about disappearing?"

Kaen didn’t answer right away.

"Every day," he finally said.

"But the difference now? I don’t have to. I just... can."

Ezra nodded, sipping his tea.

"You won’t, though. Will you?"

Kaen gave a lopsided smile.

"Not until I’m sure the garden doesn’t need my shadow anymore."

They sat quietly.

Then Kaen stood, brushing off his coat.

"Time to stop watching things grow... and let them."

He placed a small pendant at the base of the Bloom Tree—an old, rusted loop token.

The last one.

"For whoever finds this:

Don’t look back for too long.

Time finally moves. So should you."

---

Location: Sector 6 – Hillside Viewpoint

Time: 1:15 AM

Kaen walked the long path alone. No spotlight. No followers. Just footsteps on damp stone and stars overhead.

At the peak, he looked over the city he once ruled, broke, saved, and finally trusted enough to leave behind.

Lights flickered like living constellations.

Laughter carried on the breeze.

And the night, for once, didn’t feel endless.

He sat down, not as a tactician, not as a leader—

But as a man.

A witness to his own absence.

And proud of it.

To be continue...

Author’s Note:

Hey dear readers! 🌟

If you’re enjoying the story and can’t wait to see what happens next, great news! You can unlock 5 advanced Chapters right now by purchasing the 100 Coins Privilege Tier! 🔓✨

Your support not only helps me write faster but also keeps the story alive and growing. Thank you so much for being a part of this journey! 🙏

Stay tuned, and enjoy the Chapters ahead! 💫

— Anime Mastermind ✍️